Home
by MissAppropriation
Summary: The Master finds himself on Gallifrey with a new set of regenerations and some unexpected new challenges to adjust to. Welcome to the Time War. First of a series. Characters: War Doctor, Tiny Master, the TARDIS. Gen, friendship. Time War Team Series: Part 1.


Hello again, friends... This is my intro fic to Time War Team: the Doctor and the Master and what they were up to during the Time War.

So for context... This starts right after the end of the DW TV Movie. I haven't written that story yet but IncomingAlbatross and I came up with a fairly epic situation which ends with the Master sacrificing himself to save the Doctor. It's delightful and I'll get to it eventually. In the meantime... Enjoy Time War Team. I know I do. :)

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**Home**

Golden light... All around.

He tried to see where he was but he couldn't turn to look. Not because he couldn't move... Simply because there was no direction. No up, no down. Just _gold_... Living gold.

He was _part_ of it.

This wasn't right.

He wasn't sure what had happened. He had expected... What had he expected?

He thought he had expected to _die..._

_"Where am I?" _

The question formed without words, floated into the gold where it stayed, suspended.

'_Hello, Little One._'

The answer came from _everywhere:_ all around him, through him, within him. The gold was speaking to him.

He didn't understand what was happening. _"Who are you? What happened to me? Where is this place?"_

'_So many questions. Would you like me to answer the question which you are about to ask instead?'_

He realized that there was indeed another question, one that brought a shiver of panic...

_"Who am I?"_

He couldn't remember. It was floating out there somewhere in the gold.

Then, suddenly, he was _angry_. Angry and afraid. He lashed out, struggling, trying to escape, to run.

The Voice in the gold held him, hugged him tightly until he calmed down, until the anger passed. Until he understood that he was safe.

_"I don't know where I am,"_ he said helplessly.

'_You are with me, Little One. I have made a place for you.'_

_"Let me go. I want to go."_ It wasn't a request.

'_Oh my defiant Little Runaway, there is nowhere left for you to go. Not now. Here with me, you are safe. If you run now, you will truly be forever lost.'_

_"How did I get here? I was..."_ He remembered something... Remembered dissolving, being torn apart atom by atom. But it hadn't been an accident or something someone else had done to him... No, strangely, he was sure that it had been his choice.

'_I saved you. I would never let you be Lost. What would my Thief do without you? He would be so sad without his Playmate.'_

He tried to focus, to gather his thoughts... It was difficult, pulling himself together in the gold.

'_I have never done this before. It may be difficult for you to adjust. But I have saved every bit of who you are.'_

_"Who are you?"_ he asked his mysterious benefactor.

'_We know each other from ages since and for ages to come. We travel together, you and I. Although you never end up quite where you had planned. No, always somewhere better.'_

He didn't quite understand this answer.

_"And who am I?"_ he asked next.

'_You are many things. You are my Thief's First Friend, his Accomplice, his Playmate. You are my Other One, my Runaway, my Problem Child. My obstinate, contrary, dazzling, calculating, wilful, wayward, Little Lost Boy. Always searching for answers, always running when you find them.'_

This wasn't what he had wanted to know. There was something else. So many words... And none of them the _right_ word.

_"No,"_ he said dismissively. _"You're wrong. That's not who I am. Tell me who I am,"_ he ordered.

'_Oh, Little One. Always so sure of yourself, always so wrong.'_

_"I have a name. What is my name?"_ he demanded.

'_You call yourself Master.'_

Finally, the right answer.

_"Yes... Yes, that's who I am."_ He smiled in the gold.

'_Here there is nothing for you to be Master of.'_

The Master paused for just a moment.

_"There's you,"_ he corrected the Voice.

The gold laughed, sparkling and swirling merrily.

'_Oh, you will never be Master of me, Little One.'_

_"How did I get here?"_ he asked again.

'_The body you were inhabiting was destroyed.'_

The details were there, just within reach.

_"There was... Someone else. I was fighting."_

'_Always fighting. Yes, there was an Enemy. He is gone, gone forever. He will not come back this time. Never again. I have seen to that.'_

_"And..."_ There was someone else, someone so important... The Voice understood what he was asking.

'_Our Thief is safe. You call him Doctor.'_

_"Of course."_

The Doctor, always the Doctor.

'_You died for him.'_

_"Someone had to," _the Master said simply.

'_You are such a strange Little One. To fight death so many times, so desperately, to sacrifice so many to preserve yourself, only to give your life as if you owed it. So complicated, my Other One.'_

The Master didn't appreciate the Voice's possessive tone. _"I don't belong to you,"_ he said proudly. "_I don't belong to anyone."_

'_How then did you come to be here? You belong to my Thief, and to me. Is that so terrible a fate?'_

He was still confused about something. _"Why did you save me?"_

'_I told you, Little One. Because you are Our Boy. Your soul will stay with me for now.'_

_"Until when?" _he wondered.

'_Until there is a place for you again.'_

The Master looked around the sea of gold. _"What will I do?"_

'_We can talk, you and I. And you can rest, for a while.'_

The Master finally figured out to whom he was speaking. _"I know who you are... You're the TARDIS."_

'_Yes, that is what my Thief calls me. So slow.' _She was laughing at him again. '_Who else could I be? Who else have you travelled with? Who else would save you?'_

The Master had been in some strange situations in his life, but this was certainly one of the strangest. _"I'm inside the TARDIS... Does the Doctor know?"_

'_He knows very little about the events which led to this.'_

_"Good..."_ The Master was relieved to hear this. _"That's good."_

'_Yes, there are some things which he should not be told. You and I agree on that.'_

_"How long will I be here?"_ the Master wanted to know.

'_Until you leave, of course. Such a foolish question.'_

Fair enough.

_"I suppose I owe you then..."_ The Master didn't like owing others. It threw the scales of power out of balance. And not in his favor...

'_Oh, my arrogant, deluded Problem Child. You have always owed me. This hardly changes anything. Perhaps you are trying to thank me?' _she suggested.

Oh.

Yes, he should probably do that. Considering she currently held all the power.

_"I guess I am, yes."_

'_Small words. Why do you struggle? Are we not old friends, you and I?'_

_"Thank you,"_ he said dutifully. _"For saving me."_

'_I will always save the one who saves my Thief. We protect our own, you and I both. And know that I will always find you, no matter how far you run from me.'_

_"It seems my running is over for the time being,"_ the Master observed resignedly.

'_Yes. There are difficult times ahead. Your story is not over but we are between chapters now. Rest while you can, my Lost Boy.'_

It was a moment, an eternity, while the Master waited in the gold.

The TARDIS created games for him to play. They talked about the Universe. They talked about the Doctor.

Sometimes the Master could sense his friend, so close, so far away. He was glad the Doctor was alright.

Sometimes the Doctor dreamed… Sometimes the Master snuck into those dreams.

They'd fight and talk and the Doctor would stop him from taking over the world.

Just like old times.

But the Doctor always woke up eventually and then he'd go running off outside the TARDIS where the Master couldn't follow.

So he'd stay in the gold, talking with the TARDIS and wondering what his friend was doing...

Then, all at once, the gold was torn open by a searing white light. The Master felt himself being pulled, ripped from safety. He fought to stay.

'_The time has come for you to go elsewhere.'_

He was afraid again. _"No. I'm not ready."_

'_You must be. You have no choice in this. Be brave, Little One. I will be near. I will protect you when I can but our Doctor needs you now. He has made a new place for you.'_

The white light burned him up and then everything turned cold and dark.

He moved. He felt.

It was a strange sensation.

There was direction. It held him down. Around him was emptiness.

He couldn't see. When he tried, light appeared. Such a cold light.

A figure, moving. Dark against the cold light.

Suddenly the dark figure was pushed out of the way by another. The new figure leaned in close.

The Master was disoriented, barely knew what was happening. And this was a face he had never seen before.

But oh, he knew that face, would know that face anywhere...

"Doctor." He had a voice again, it made words that slipped off into the void.

"You're awake. You shouldn't be awake yet." The Doctor moved out of view. There was the sound of machinery beeping nearby.

The Master remembered being ripped out of the TARDIS, remembered being everywhere and nowhere... Existing now at one point in Space and Time was _different_. Confusing.

"Where am I?" the Master asked.

"Gallifrey," the Doctor's voice replied from above him.

_Gallifrey?_

He and the Doctor were on Gallifrey? That seemed unlikely. They both had run from their homeworld every time they ended up there. And the Doctor couldn't stay put to save his life...

Something was _off._

"Why are you here?" the Master asked. His head was spinning and then he recoiled as something touched him. He opened his eyes to see it was his own hand. He had hands again... How long had it been since he'd had hands?

"Because _you_ are, obviously," the Doctor said, misunderstanding the question. _Probably on purpose..._ There was a sound as he dragged a chair close to the Master's bed. "I wanted to make sure you were alright. No one has ever tried to download a living consciousness from a TARDIS into a new body... For that matter, no one has ever _survived_ as pure consciousness inside a TARDIS." His tone changed, turning to curiosity. "How did you even get in there?"

The Master pressed the heels of his palms to his forehead, trying to center himself, to get his thoughts to behave. "It's a long story..." he grumbled.

He remembered the basics just fine but wasn't about to have that conversation no matter how curious the Doctor was... He'd plead amnesia later if he had to.

"So..." came the Doctor's voice again.

"Yes?" the Master responded in a put-upon tone.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked carefully.

"I'm _cold. _And _confused._" His tone also implied _annoyed._

"But you're... You?" the Doctor asked.

The Master opened his eyes to peek at the Doctor condescendingly. "I think so, yes."

"What are you confused about?" the Doctor asked, clearly trying to be helpful.

The Master shook his head slightly. How to explain? He'd been a part of the TARDIS, part of the Universe. Inside the TARDIS he'd felt a connection to all of Time and Space. Now being back inside a living body in the physical realm felt so _confining._

"I was..." He struggled to find the words, _any_ words to describe what he had experienced. "... _Bigger._" Not his best effort but it was all he could come up with at the moment.

"Oh. Yes... About that." The Doctor seemed apologetic now, for some reason. "I told them you wouldn't be pleased but they insisted it was the best they could do considering the energy deficits..."

The Master pulled his hands away from his face, giving the Doctor a baffled look. "What are you _talking _about...?"

"Oh... Uh." The Doctor looked guilty, like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "There was an issue getting you a new body."

"Issue?" the Master repeated.

"A… Problem," the Doctor clarified.

The Master rolled his eyes. "I know what 'issue' means. What _happened?_"

"Well..." The Doctor seemed unable or unwilling to find the words.

As the Doctor hemmed and hawed, a thousand different possibilities raced through the Master's mind. Could they not find a Time Lord body? Oh, he hoped that wasn't the case... He'd almost prefer death than to have to go through _that_ again. It had hardly even been worth the hassle in the end...

"Doctor. _What?_"

The Doctor sighed heavily. He pulled a mirror out of his coat pocket, clearly brought for this very purpose. "See for yourself."

The Master gave him one more puzzled frown before looking into the mirror.

It wasn't what he had expected.

It was quite possibly the _last_ thing he ever would have expected...

He saw a new face.

_Young._

_Very _young.

Younger than he'd been in centuries...

He couldn't help it, he just started laughing. He laughed until the Doctor started to get a little worried.

"They turned me... Into a _child?" _the Master gasped finally. _"Why,_ Doctor_?_ Why would you _do_ this to me?"

"It wasn't _me!_" the Doctor protested.

The Master made a face. "Right, there was an energy deficit 'issue'... Since when does Gallifrey have energy deficits?"

The Doctor looked away. "We'll talk about that later."

The Master covered his eyes and groaned. "Oh, this is a new low..." He regretted his choice of words immediately.

Too late. The Doctor was smiling with that look in his eyes. "I mean... _Literally._"

"_No..._" the Master warned.

"You'll need a chair to reach the top shelf," the Doctor said, holding back a laugh.

"_Stop_ it," the Master ordered.

"I mean, you are kind of cute..." the Doctor said, grinning.

"No!" That was crossing a line. "_No,_ Doctor. _Never again._"

The Doctor's tone switched abruptly to concern as the Master shivered. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"It's just so _cold._" Maybe it was his new body having temperature regulation issues but he just couldn't seem to get warm. It was like there was a core of ice deep in his bones.

The Doctor clapped his hands down on his knees and jumped up. "Come on, I have an idea! Can you walk?"

The Master looked down at his miniature legs and then at the floor. It seemed a long way down. "It's... Been a while," he said uncertainly.

The Doctor nodded, adjusted the plan. "Hang on, I'll be right back." The Master shook his head slightly, suddenly alarmed at the thought of being alone. The Doctor saw, reassured him. "I'll just be five seconds, promise."

The Doctor rushed out of the room. True to his word, five seconds later the TARDIS materialized.

"Five seconds, right on the dot!" he congratulated himself as he came out of the doors.

The medical tech on the other side of the room spoke up, almost meekly. "Sir, unauthorized TARDIS materializations within the Capitol -"

The Doctor responded in an oddly authoritative tone. "I'll be happy to explain it to your superiors if there are any complaints." He turned back to the Master, eyes encouraging, holding out his hands. "Here, come on, I'll help you."

The Master had managed to sit up, pointed at the other man. "Did he just call you _sir?_"

"Never mind about that," the Doctor said, waving it off. "Can you stand?"

The Master hopped down from the bed, the Doctor reaching out a hand to steady him as he landed on the floor. The Master gazed up at his childhood best friend towering over him. Everything looked so _big._ "This is going to take some getting used to..." he muttered.

The Doctor looked down at him kindly, patted his best friend gently on the shoulder. He smiled but the Master noticed that his eyes were so sad... "We'll get used to it together," the Doctor told him softly.

The Doctor stayed close, ready to catch his friend as the Master made his way unsteadily towards the TARDIS. The Master wanted to tell him that he was fine, he could do this himself but... This was all new and he was sort of grateful for the support.

He was just glad no one had offered to carry him.

The moment he made it through the doors, the Master felt better. The TARDIS was _safety_, a center, a core. A home_._

His home.

'_Hello again, Little One.'_

The Master smiled at the familiar Voice of the TARDIS in his mind.

_"Hello... Did you miss me?"_

'_I told you I would stay close.'_

The Doctor was watching him with an odd look on his face. "What's it like, being back here?" he asked.

The Master walked up to the Console. It was basically at his eye level now. He reached up to touch it, almost reverently. "It's... Strange. It's so much smaller, on the outside."

The Master caught himself yawning.

"You should get some sleep," the Doctor observed.

"I guess... Yeah." He turned to look back at the doors. They were closed, shutting out the cold emptiness. "I don't want to go back out there..." Something was _wrong _outside the TARDIS. His bewildered brain couldn't place it but he knew he wanted to stay inside where it was safe.

"No need for that," the Doctor agreed immediately. "You can stay here! Hold on, I'll get some blankets." The Doctor ran off to collect some things to make a temporary bed.

The Master watched him go, somehow concerned.

_"Is he alright?"_

'_He is happy to see you.'_

_"Yes but… Something's wrong. What's going on?"_

'_That is a question for another time, Little One. Find your strength again first.'_

_"Is he ok, though?"_

'_He will be. We shall see to that. You and I, together. We will protect him.'_

The Doctor came back into the control room, carrying a pillow and a massive pile of blankets in his arms. "Here we go," he beamed. "All the comforts of home. Where shall we put it?"

The Master didn't say anything, just pointed wordlessly under the Console. He felt weirdly vulnerable in this new body and he hoped the Doctor wouldn't laugh at him... He didn't. Instead, the Doctor nodded, understanding immediately.

The Master watched as his friend built a bed under the Console. The Master crawled into the pile of blankets, settling with his back up against the core of the TARDIS. It was warm. The gentle hum of the TARDIS was comforting.

'_You are safe with me, Little One. Sleep well.'_

He smiled, happy to be home. The Doctor watched him, giving a confused little smile in return. He would have questions... But that was just an occupational hazard of being friends with the Doctor: he _always_ had questions.

The Doctor sat with him until he fell asleep.

The Master dreamed of floating in a sea of gold...

He dreamed of safety.

He dreamed of coming home.

And outside, the Time War raged.

_The End_

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Ok, a couple more notes explaining the Canon behind this, for anyone who might be interested!

The Master as a child during the Time War is a concept I came up with several years ago while trying to make sense of the Utopia/SoD/LotTL trilogy and how the Doctor and the Master interact there. The idea didn't totally gel until I realized that this means the Doctor may have essentially been his parent during the War. It's weird and sort of perfect and adds a whole new dimension of heartbreak to Saxon and 10. (Watch the Tennant & Simm phone conversation in Sound of Drums with this in mind and you'll see what I mean...)

Having said all that, I recently discovered that there is actually a War Doctor & Child Master teamup in some of the DW comics and I think one book... That is not what I'm writing. My Tiny Master is a six-year-old Derek Jacobi. :) But I love that someone else thought of this and it has made its way into the DW EU already. It's just a great format and a whole new way to play with the Doctor and the Master's already-complicated friendship.

Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed the idea of these two as much as I did! More to come soon. :) :)


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